Original Item: Only One Available. During the early NSDAP period, there were large numbers of rallies and other gatherings to help consolidate power and develop a sense of national unity. These often took place at the district and regional level, and many items were made to serve as mementos of the event. Here we have a small table medal award, made from partially gilt porcelain and measuring just over 2 inches in diameter. It comes complete in its original case, which is marked on the interior lid with Gau Bayer. Ostmark, short for Gau Bayerische(n) Ostmark (Bavarian East March), which would later be renamed "Gau Bayreuth".

The obverse of the medal shows an embossed circular panel with an eagle facing to the right on top of a wreathed mobile swas, and to the right of this is the "Festival Theater of Bayreuth" (Bayreuther Festspielhaus), the opera house constructed by Richard Wagner, a building of great importance to the NSDAP. There is an unfinished ring around the gilt central panel, which is embossed with date 1936 and GAUTREFFEN DER BAYR. OSTMARK, which translates to "District Rally of the Bavarian Ostmark".

The reverse shows hero Siegfried / Sigurd with the sword Balmung / Nothung and a shield with a "Wolfsangel" symbol on it, standing above the body of slain dragon Fafnir. In Germanic mythology the hero was bathed in the dragons blood, making him invulnerable safe for an area on his back where a leaf had stuck to him, preventing the blood from touching his skin. Surrounding this is MACHT MIR DIE OSTMARK STARK, or "Make the Ostmark Strong for Me!"!

The included burgundy leatherette case measures 3 1/4" square with a height of 5/8", and is in very good condition, showing light wear to the exterior. It has however had the fabric hinge holding the top together with the bottom tear completely through.

An interesting piece of German WWII NSDAP memorabilia, ready to display!

Gau Bayerische-Ostmark (Bavarian East March) was a regional district established in 1933 in NSDAP Germany, when Hans Schemm, the gauleiter of Oberfranken, united the three Gaue of Oberpfalz, Niederbayern and Oberfranken into one in an internal power struggle. The term Bayerische Ostmark was coined after the First World War for the region to refer to the fact that the area now bordered the new Czechoslovakia, a country perceived as hostile to Germany. The term Mark (English: March) was historically used in Imperial Germany for border regions to hostile neighbors. It was the only one of the Bavarian Gaue to incorporate more than one Regierungsbezirk, covering three of them. Later on, because the Gau Bayerische Ostmark was not a border region any more, it was renamed Gau Bayreuth in June 1942, so this can is from before this time.